Energy

Westar Energy is sending crews to help restore power to areas that were hit by strong thunderstorms in West Virginia. Millions were left without power in the eastern United States. Contract crews will be sending 41 Westar lineman, supervisors, safety and support personnel to assist with restoration efforts. Employees from Westar's Topeka, Marysville, Hutchinson, Atchison, Pittsburg, Independence, Newton, Arkansas City, and Wichita offices will assist.

The triple digit temperatures are already causing problems. More than 2,000 people in West Wichita were without power Monday night.  Westar Energy says a spike in usage caused equipment to fail. Byron Shipman and his wife were cooking supper when their house went dark Monday night. “I called in, they said it'd be two to five hours that they'd be down,” Byron Shipman said.  “And nothing happened after a couple of hours so I called again. Then they said there was a line down and it was going to be around 10 o'clock.” The outage came during peak power consumption hours in Wichita, the late afternoon.

Westar Energy is asking customers to watch out for suspicious behavior in and around their neighborhoods because of recent copper thefts at Westar facilities.  Copper thefts across Westar's service territory have caused expensive damage to equipment and resulted in a number of power outages. “For scrap metal's relatively small value, thieves are willing to endanger our customers, and our linemen and substation employees, cause our customers to have power outages, and ruin expensive equipment that provides one of the most essential services for homes and businesses.

Westar Energy is warning customers about a scam that has hit several states. The scam claims the federal government is providing credits or applying payments to customers' utility bills. The scammers ask for personal information, like Social Security numbers, saying the information is needed to apply payments to customer's utility bills. Westar says when it makes collection calls, it does not ask for personal information, because that info is already in their records.

If you want to learn how to winterize your home or the benefits of having a rain barrel, those answers will be under one roof Saturday. The City of Wichita is hosting its annual Energy & Sustainability Fair.  It's from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m at Century II. The purpose is to give homeowner's tools to save energy and money.  There are several seminars, from home weatherization and how to idle less to sustainable gardening and lawn care. ...

The Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services plans to start taking applications Wednesday from people who need help paying their winter heating bills.     SRS has about $24 million to distribute under the Low Income Energy Assistance Program, which targets the elderly, the disabled and families with children. The agency will take applications through March 30.     Individuals qualify if their incomes are $1,180 a month or less. A family of four qualifies if its income is $2,400 a month or less.

Westar Energy customers who own a house 10 years or older can now assess its energy efficiency through a new HomeAudit pilot program. For just $100, homeowners can have a professional $300 audit performed that will provide them with a customized Energy Conservation Plan. Participants are eligible to receive a $100 rebate on the cost of the audit if they provide receipts showing they implemented at least $100 in improvements recommended in the Energy Conservation Plan. To participate, Westar Energy customers must: • Own a single-family home that is 10 years old or older (Mobile homes and apartments are not eligible to participate.)

Westar Energy wants customers to be on alert after several report suspicious calls claiming to be from the company. In the calls, the company says the caller claims to be a service representative and tells customers a check bounced or a bill is past due. The caller will ask customers to provide credit card information or other personal information. If the caller is questioned, the company says the caller provides a call-back number that goes to an adult entertainment business.

Westar Energy has asked the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) to increase its base prices about 5.85 percent. They say the increase for a typical residential customer would be about $6.50 per month. KWCH Eyewitness News reporter Jim Grawe will have more on this story tonight on the evening news and KWCH.com

Days of triple digit temperatures are driving high energy use, and that means homeowners could be facing high electric bills. Westar Energy is bringing representatives to several of its service areas to help customers who may have trouble dealing with a large bill. Company officials say they are talking with customers about options like setting up an average payment plan, where customers pay a fixed average all year long, or a payment plan to deal with high or overdue bills.